The Rijksmuseum Bulletin is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal presenting scholarly articles that contribute to historical and art-historical research into the Rijksmuseum collections to an international audience of curators, scholars, students, art professional and enthusiasts.
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The Rijksmuseum Bulletin, volume 72 (2024), no. 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Machtelt Brüggen Israëls and Giulia Sara de Vivo
The Miraculous Madonna of Pistoia in a Devotional Replica of 1490-1500 Attributed to Niccolò di Mariano

In this article, it is suggested that a small panel of the Madonna of Humility in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, executed with fifteenth-century woodworking and painting techniques and materials, is a devotional copy of the fresco of the Virgin of Humility in Pistoia that became miraculously active in 1490. Historical, stylistic, and archival evidence suggests the panel is possibly a work by Niccolo di Mariano (act. 1478; d. 1500), perhaps made as a devotional replica not long after the miraculous event.

Esther Pitoun and Arie Pappot
A Bronze Passion Ensemble by François du Quesnoy and François Girardon

A fine bronze statuette representing a Christ at the Column recently entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum, sparking an inquiry into why it shares so many commonalities with a bronze Ecce Homo acquired by the museum in 1957. In addition to observable stylistic parallels, technical analysis conducted by Rijksmuseum scientist Arie Pappot revealed that both statuettes were cast in the same (probably Parisian) workshop around 1700. The original model of the Christ at the Column is attributed to Francois du Quesnoy (1597-1643), whose models circulated around France and Italy. Among the many who collected his works was the French court sculptor Francois Girardon (1628-1715), whose collection, illustrated on a series of thirteen plates, comprised no less than eighty-three terracotta and four bronzes by Du Quesnoy himself or made after his models. In pursuit of symmetry in the presentation of his sculptures, the accomplished sculptor Girardon, as argued here, could very conceivably have created and cast the Ecce Homo as a companion piece to the Christ at the Column already held in his collection. The outcome is a harmonious ensemble of mirrored contrapposto figures, an exceptional religious duo calling for an introspective pilgrimage to the suffering of Christ.

Alexander Dencher
Sweet Splendour: Drawings of Desserts in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic

An important aspect of elite dining culture in eighteenth-century Europe were the impressive centrepieces made of sugar, also known as desserts. Little is known about the design of these ephemeral tablescapes. Although often surviving in literary descriptions, the appearance of these objects was rarely documented in visual sources. To gain more insight into the creative process that underpinned the design and execution of confectionary centrepieces, as well as the status of confectioners as artists and artisans, this article considers the authorship and function of three very rare drawings depicting desserts made by Dutch confectioners.

Mattie Boom, Jeroen ter Brugge, Marian Cousijn, Erik Hinterding, Charles Kang, Huigen Leeflang, Austėja Mackelaitė, Hans Rooseboom, Maud van Suylen, Laurien van der Werff and Joyce Zelen
Print Room Acquisitions